Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Vapor Power Cycles
Vapor Power Cycles
We know that the Carnot cycle is most efficient cycle operating between two specified
temperature limits. However; the Carnot cycle is not a suitable model for steam power
cycle since:
The turbine has to handle steam with low quality which will cause erosion and wear
in turbine blades.
It is difficult to control the condensation process that precisely as to end up with the
desired at point 4.
T
1
IdealRankineCycle
The Rankine cycle is the ideal cycle for vapor power plants; it includes the following four
reversible processes:
1-2:
Isentropic compression
2-3:
3-4:
Isentropic expansion
4-1:
M. Bahrami
Boiler
Turbine
Wout
3
Qin
Qin
2
4
Win
1
Pump
Win
Wout
Qout
Condenser
Qout
s
Fig. 2: The ideal Rankine cycle.
EnergyAnalysisfortheCycle
All four components of the Rankine cycle are steady-state steady-flow devices. The
potential and kinetic energy effects can be neglected. The first law per unit mass of steam
can be written as:
Pump
q=0
wpump,in = h2 h1
Boiler
w=0
qin = h3 h2
Turbine
q=0
wturbine,out = h3 h4
Condenser
w=0
qout = h4 h1
th
where
wnet qin q out wturbine ,out w pump ,in
If we consider the fluid to be incompressible, the work input to the pump will be:
(h2 h1) = v(P2 P1)
where
DeviationofActualVaporPowerCyclefromIdealCycle
As a result of irreversibilities in various components such as fluid friction and heat loss to
the surroundings, the actual cycle deviates from the ideal Rankine cycle. The deviations
of actual pumps and turbines from the isentropic ones can be accounted for by utilizing
isentropic efficiencies defined as:
ws h2 s h1
wa h2 a h1
M. Bahrami
wa h3 h4 a
ws h3 h4 s
ENSC 461 (S 11)
T
3
2s
4s
IncreasingtheEfficiencyofRankineCycle
We know that the efficiency is proportional to: th 1
TL
TH
That is, to increase the efficiency one should increase the average temperature at which
heat is transferred to the working fluid in the boiler, and/or decrease the average
temperature at which heat is rejected from the working fluid in the condenser.
DecreasingtheofCondenserPressure(LowerTL)
Lowering the condenser pressure will increase the area enclosed by the cycle on a T-s
diagram which indicates that the net work will increase. Thus, the thermal efficiency of
the cycle will be increased.
T
3
2
1
4
P4 < P4
Increase in
wnet
4
s
The condenser pressure cannot be lowered than the saturated pressure corresponding to
the temperature of the cooling medium. We are generally limited by the thermal reservoir
temperature such as lake, river, etc. Allow a temperature difference of 10C for effective
heat transfer in the condenser. For instance lake @ 15C + T (10C) = 25C. The steam
saturation pressure (or the condenser pressure) then will be Psat = 3.2 kPa.
SuperheatingtheSteamtoHighTemperatures(IncreaseTH)
Superheating the steam will increase the net work output and the efficiency of the cycle.
It also decreases the moisture contents of the steam at the turbine exit. The temperature to
which steam can be superheated is limited by metallurgical considerations (~ 620C).
3
3
Increase in
wnet
4
s
Fig. 5: The effect of increasing the boiler pressure on the ideal Rankine cycle.
IncreasingtheBoilerPressure(IncreaseTH)
Increasing the operating pressure of the boiler leads to an increase in the temperature at
which heat is transferred to the steam and thus raises the efficiency of the cycle.
Increase in
wnet
Tmax
3
2
2
Decrease
in wnet
1
1
4
s
Fig.6: The effect of increasing the boiler pressure on the ideal cycle.
M. Bahrami
Note that for a fixed turbine inlet temperature, the cycle shifts to the left and the moisture
content of the steam at the turbine exit increases. This undesirable side effect can be
corrected by reheating the steam.
TheIdealReheatRankineCycle
To take advantage of the increased efficiencies at higher boiler pressure without facing
the excessive moisture at the final stages of the turbine, reheating is used. In the ideal
reheating cycle, the expansion process takes place in two stages, i.e., the high-pressure
and low-pressure turbines.
High-pressure
turbine
T
3
3
5
Low-pressure
turbine
Low-P
Turbine
High-P
Turbine
Boiler
4
P4 = P5 = Preheat
5
6
Condenser
2
s
Pump
The incorporation of the single reheat in a modern power plant improves the cycle
efficiency by 4 to 5 percent by increasing the average temperature at which heat is
transferred to the steam.
TheIdealRegenerativeRankineCycle
The regeneration process in steam power plants is accomplished by extracting (or
bleeding) steam from turbine at various stages and feed that steam in heat exchanger
where the feedwater is heated. These heat exchangers are called regenerator or feedwater
heater (FWH).
FWH also help removing the air that leaks in at the condenser (deaerating the feedwater).
There are two types of FWHs, open and closed.
M. Bahrami
Open(DirectContact)FeedwaterHeaters
An open FWH is basically a mixing chamber where the steam extracted from the turbine
mixes with the feedwater exiting the pump. Ideally, the mixture leaves the heater as a
saturated liquid at the heater pressure.
5
T
4
Boiler
y
6
Open
FWH
7
4
s
3
Pump II
7
2
Condenser
Pump I
q out 1 y h7 h1
wturbine ,out h5 h6 1 y h6 h7
w pump ,in 1 y wPumpI wPumpII
where
y m 6 / m 5
wPumpI v1 P2 P1
wPumpII v3 P4 P3
Thermal efficiency of the Rankine cycle increases as a result of regeneration since FWH
raises the average temperature of the water before it enters the boiler. Many large power
plants have as many as 8 FWHs.
ClosedFeedwaterHeaters
In closed FWH, heat is transferred from the extracted steam to the feedwater without any
mixing taking place. Thus; two streams can be at different pressures, since they dont
mix.
In an ideal closed FWH, the feedwater is heated to the exit temperature of the extracted
steam, which ideally leaves the heater as a saturated liquid at the extraction pressure.
M. Bahrami
6
T
5
9
Turbine
Boiler
7
Mixing
chamber
Closed
FWH
9
Condenser
2
3
Pump II
Pump I
Closed FWH
simple
inexpensive
good heat transfer characteristics
bring feedwater to the saturation
state
a pump is required for each FWH
M. Bahrami
Cogeneration
Many system and industries require energy input in the form of heat, called process heat.
Some industries such as chemical, pulp and paper rely heavily on process heat. The
process heat is typically supplied by steam at 5 to 7 atm and 150 to 200 C. These plants
also require large amount of electric power. Therefore, it makes economical and
engineering sense to use the already-existing work potential (in the steam entering the
condenser) to use as process heat. This is called cogeneration.
Turbine
Expansion
valve
Boiler
5
6
7
Process
heater
3
Pump II
Condenser
Pump I
CombinedGasVaporPowerCycle
Gas-turbine cycles typically operate at considerably higher temperatures than steam
cycles. The maximum fluid temperature at the turbine inlet is about 620C for modern
steam power plants, but over 1425C for gas-turbine power plants. It is over 1500C at the
burner exit of turbojet engines.
It makes engineering sense to take advantage of the very desirable characteristics of the
gas-turbine cycle at high-temperature and to use the high temperature exhaust gases as
the energy source for the bottoming cycle as a steam power cycle. This is called
combined cycle. Combined cycles can achieve high thermal efficiencies, some of recent
ones have about 60%.
M. Bahrami